 Re: Sublimation Inks & Heat Press inquiry
Greetings Jerry,
The 1800 is a discontinued printer, replaced by the 1900. In any event, I'm not sure what the sales rep was basing his opinions on. We are quite familiar with the 1800 and 1400. In fact we were original Beta testers for both systems.
The performance of the 1800 and sublimation ink system was adequate. Based on our testing, we usually suggested the 1400, except in unusual circumstances.
Here's why-
The 1800 was developed for photographers. The theory was that because the system would employ red and blue colors (vs. lt. magenta and lt. cyan), an extra black (matte) and an optimizer (used to give regular photographs a high-gloss), photographic replication would be better. Up to a point, this proved correct.
However, the effect was a non-issue insofar as ArTainium sublimation inks were concerned. Sublimation does not use an optimizer, and the other inks were the same as that used in the 1400. For that reason, the color output between the two printers was negligible.
In addition, the 1800 often proved to be a “cranky” printer, requiring lots of TLC and attention. The amount of crankiness seemed to be in an inverse ratio to how much the printer was used.
The one “selling” point was that it could be split into a CMYK sublimation and Chromablast printer. This of course turned the printer into a glorified Epson C88+. While this theoretically lowered entry/startup costs we weren’t enthused about the downside.
This does not mean the system is not suitable. It could perfectly fit some situations. Because it won’t fit all situations (of course nothing does), ask yourself these additional questions-
What will be my prime sublimation work? If it is fine art, then only having four colors presents limitations.
What is going to be my cotton and cotton blend T-shirt market? If it is going to be white and colors then you will need other printer/inks for the colored fabrics.
Last thought: In researching, focus on what you want to do, rather than on what the equipment can do!
I’m going to have to stop here because I’ve got to get back to work. |